Job Discussion Forums

[paddyflynn]

I would like to go to Japan to learn Japanese. I am already an advanced beginner, and I think it would take me about a year of intensive immersion (20 hours of class time per week) to become proficient. However, there are some complications concerning visas, and how I will fund the trip.

Right now I am employed, but they are talking about closing my department, in which case I would get half of my salary for six months as severance. I am thinking that with my severance package, plus what I have saved, I would still need to earn about 80-100k yen a month while I am in Japan. This should be doable if I teach 10 hours a week. If I teach much more than that, I won�t have time to study and exercise. 15 hours a week is the maximum I would be willing to teach.

The problem is I can�t plan anything in advance, because if I plan to be in Japan by a certain date, and then I don�t get laid off, I won�t get any severance if I quit. Also, once I am laid off, I need to go to japan right away. If I sit around for 6 months waiting for a visa to get processed, I will use up my savings and severance before I even leave home.

I don�t think a student visa would work for me because the schools require you to apply like 6 months in advance. A teaching visa might be faster, but would any school be willing to sponsor my visa if I can only work 10-15 hours a week? Another option is to go on a tourist visa, enroll in school, and try to line up some private lessons. Of course this is risky. I am not sure how cool Japanese immigration would be about me leaving the country and coming back 4 times in a year, I could get busted teaching on a tourist visa etc. I�d rather not do it like that, but if there is no other way, I guess I have to take the risk.

Any suggestions on how I should proceed?

[Glenski]

[paddyflynn]

Glenski, thanks for your response.

[Glenski]

I think you and the military have two very different ideas of fluent. To say and understand "whatever you want" will take far longer.

The only schools that will "market you" to specific private clients are business English agencies, not ones where you attend to learn Japanese. Yes, there aren't too many foreign lawyers here, but that begs the question of why you want to seriously reduce your pay by teaching on the side. What is your overall purpose in learning Japanese, anyway?

[paddyflynn]

Glenski,

I understand that the schools that market me to teach are not the same ones I would study at.

I think you overestimate the amount of money I make as a lawyer. The job market isn't really good right now, and I am burnt out from practicing law. I figure going to Japan, teaching part time and studying the language sounds like a good way to spend a year.

There is also a good market in the US for lawyers who know Japanese. Basically, they get paid to review documents written in Japanese.
I don't know how good one's language needs to be to get these jobs. There is a test the employer gives, and employment is based on the test score. So I want to learn it well enough to get a good score.

[spiral78]

[paddyflynn]

Thanks for responding, spiral.

The thing it, yopu can't really get a straight answer from the recruiters. They will tell you you need near native like fluency, but then there are people who do this work who aren't that fluent. I know one guy who majored in Japanese, but has never even been to Japan, and he didn't come from a Japanese speaking home either, but he is able to do the work, which involves summarizing and not word-for-word translation.

I am hoping that 1,000 hours, along with totally emersing myself in the culture will be enough. My plan is to only hang out with Japanese people who don't speak English (assuming I can find some who don't mind hanging out with a gai jin), and speak it as much as possible.

I am o.k. even if my Japanese sin't to the level I hope it will be after one year. Of course my savings would be gone, but I could teach full time and study part time until I spoke well enough. Also, I am not doing this just to get a job when I come home. That would be nice, but even if I can't, I figure living in Japan and studying the language would be a good way to spend a year.

Anyway, this thread has gotten derailed a bit. I really don't care if people think I can't get my Japanese to the level it needs to be in one year. I appreciate your concern, but have made my mind up that I am going to give it a try. What I need to know is whether there is a fast way to get a visa that I can use to teach part time with, so that I can take off within a month or two after I get my severance? Can anyone help me with that?

[72308]

No, is the simple answer. Both a work visa and a student visa take approx three months to aquire. I don't know how long a working holiday visa takes, but I can't imagine it's any less time. I'm not sure where you're based, but the USA doesn't have a working holiday arrangement with Japan (and if you are in a country that does, you need to be under 30 to qualify). Another point to remember is that you cannot automatically work with a student visa: you need permission from the school to do so. Sorry, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I wouldn't want you to be fooled by an unscrupulous website claiming that they can get you over there quickly.

[kathrynoh]

I went to Japan on a student visa. Think it took longer than 3 months to get from memory though. You could apply - if circumstances change then you don't have to use the visa. You would need to have definite savings though, a future redundancy payout won't cut it. They want you have enough savings not to have to work too.

A couple of other things - as noted above, you don't instantly get work permission on a student visa. Most schools won't give you approval straight away because your primary focus should be studying and study + settling in takes a while.

I taught Business English while studying and there is no way I could get 10 hours a week doing that. Classes are usually 2 hours and everybody wants them either 5-7 or 6-8. I had some day time classes for a while but a lot of companies don't like them - interferes with work. So that's 2 hours a day, 4 times a week maximum because no one wants to study on a Friday, and often on a Thursday either.

Depending on your class load, you might get work with a small eikawa but I finished class at 4pm so that ruled out most places because they want someone for the after school classes. They might be okay with nights and weekends but there is a lot of competition for jobs and if they can, they'll get someone who works the hours they want.

Weekends, you might pick up some private students but there is the 4 hours a day limit on working.

Another alternative is somewhere like GABA that lets you work flexible hours but the pay rate is less than half what you'd get doing Business English.

[Glenski]

[kpjf]

[qwertyu2]

I know the U.S. legal market really sucks. But I agree with the posters above who doubt your chances of quickly jumping into a part-time job on a student visa. You could probably get work, but not on short notice.

In addition, your plans of fluency such that you are able to do Japanese document review within one year are naive. My off the cuff estimate is three years of dedicated study in order to read newspapers without much difficulty. Most TEFL folks in Japan never reach that level.